I raised an issue with my car 1 week after buying - but its been 9 months what are my rights?

AbiHope22

I bought a Skoda back in October 2020. I had an issue with it in the first week - the infotainment system was breaking up and the phone disconnecting. I told the dealership this was important when buying the car as I do approx 30k miles in the car every year and need to be contactable.
Skoda said the car needed an update, it could be a month or so. We went into lockdown so it wasnt a big deal - I thought i'll wait for the update. 
May rolls around, and I'm working from home less, and the car is a anightmare. I'm having to pull over ALL of the time to get the phone to reconnect as a 3 hour drive with me being uncontactable isnt possible. The car is a 69 plate, and i paid what i consider to be a reasonable amount on the car and dont expect it to be breaking up.

Skoda are still saying i am waiting for an update. They cant do anything and wont switch out the car, even though it has a 2 year warranty. They also stated the update could be months or years away.
I go back to the dealership and they offer to buy the car back off me at the settlement fee (something I could get we buy any car to do). So effectively I will be back to the same stage I was at in October 2020, and have effectively thrown away £2800. 
Do I have any further rights? Or not after the 6 months mark? I have been pleasant enough with the dealership and  today where I questioned if they could do anything extra (reduce the price of another car by £1000 or look at lower APR options) and I was given a really arsey response. I work in retail, I can tell i'm the sort of customer they dont want.

I also found a letter in the glovebox to the previous owner of the car saying the car needed a software update for safety - apparently the two cases are unrelated but I found it strange finding that letter in the car after having issues with the infortainment.

I dont want to completely start again as i hate the idea i have just chucked away 2,800. I have still been using the car as it obviously still runs fine; it is just not fit for purpose.

Any help on if i have a leg to stand on here would be appreciated.

oh_really

Is reinstalling the current software something the dealer would do as an interim measure until the update becomes available? Are all similar models affected?

Grumpy_chap

AbiHope22 said:

I bought a Skoda back in October 2020.
I do approx 30k miles in the car every year 
I go back to the dealership and they offer to buy the car back off me at the settlement fee (something I could get we buy any car to do). So effectively I will be back to the same stage I was at in October 2020, and have effectively thrown away £2800. 

If the Dealer takes the car back now, there will have to be a charge made for the beneficial use you have had from the car in the 9 months of ownership, especially if that included 20k miles.

Suffering a loss of £2.8k over that period and mileage does not sound unreasonable.

Would you prefer it if the garage said they'd give you a full refund but charge you 15 pence per mile (top end for PCP excess mileage) for the beneficial use?  Over 20k miles, that would be £3k.  What extra should you pay for the time of ownership - use?

macman

As above, you haven't 'thrown away' £2,800. You have had the use of the car for 20K miles in 9 months for approx 14p per mile in depreciation.
No doubt the dealer would argue that the absence of a reliable hands-free phone connection does not make the car unfit for it's primary purpose, which is not to make or receive phone calls.

AdrianC

In the meantime, dead cheap/easy/reliable workaround...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Earpiece-Cell-Phone/s?k=Bluetooth+Earpiece+for+Cell+Phone

neilmcl

AbiHope22 said:

I bought a Skoda back in October 2020. I had an issue with it in the first week - the infotainment system was breaking up and the phone disconnecting. I told the dealership this was important when buying the car as I do approx 30k miles in the car every year and need to be contactable.
Skoda said the car needed an update, it could be a month or so. We went into lockdown so it wasnt a big deal - I thought i'll wait for the update. 
May rolls around, and I'm working from home less, and the car is a anightmare. I'm having to pull over ALL of the time to get the phone to reconnect as a 3 hour drive with me being uncontactable isnt possible. The car is a 69 plate, and i paid what i consider to be a reasonable amount on the car and dont expect it to be breaking up.

Skoda are still saying i am waiting for an update. They cant do anything and wont switch out the car, even though it has a 2 year warranty. They also stated the update could be months or years away.
I go back to the dealership and they offer to buy the car back off me at the settlement fee (something I could get we buy any car to do). So effectively I will be back to the same stage I was at in October 2020, and have effectively thrown away £2800. 
Do I have any further rights? Or not after the 6 months mark? I have been pleasant enough with the dealership and  today where I questioned if they could do anything extra (reduce the price of another car by £1000 or look at lower APR options) and I was given a really arsey response. I work in retail, I can tell i'm the sort of customer they dont want.

I also found a letter in the glovebox to the previous owner of the car saying the car needed a software update for safety - apparently the two cases are unrelated but I found it strange finding that letter in the car after having issues with the infortainment.

I dont want to completely start again as i hate the idea i have just chucked away 2,800. I have still been using the car as it obviously still runs fine; it is just not fit for purpose.

Any help on if i have a leg to stand on here would be appreciated.

Well you haven't thrown away £2800, you've had 9 months of potential motoring. 

Ibrahim5

Your car has got a problem with it's electronics. It's electronics have been made by very clever boffins. You are taking it to be fixed by people who have no idea about electronics. However, they know if they mention 'waiting for software update' you will go away. They managed to get the first owner to go away. They have managed to get you to go away. If you want it fixing you have to get nearer to the boffins. So you need to get Skoda UK involved. They may be able to send a boffin to look at it. The current legislation covering car sales is the Consumer Rights Act 2015. It is well detailed online. If you feel you have the evidence needed to convince a judge that you have been complaining since purchase you could give the car back to the dealer and then claim whatever proportion of the £2800 you feel is fair back through the small claims court.

neilmcl

Ibrahim5 said:

Your car has got a problem with it's electronics. It's electronics have been made by very clever boffins. You are taking it to be fixed by people who have no idea about electronics. However, they know if they mention 'waiting for software update' you will go away. They managed to get the first owner to go away. They have managed to get you to go away. If you want it fixing you have to get nearer to the boffins. So you need to get Skoda UK involved. They may be able to send a boffin to look at it. The current legislation covering car sales is the Consumer Rights Act 2015. It is well detailed online. If you feel you have the evidence needed to convince a judge that you have been complaining since purchase you could give the car back to the dealer and then claim whatever proportion of the £2800 you feel is fair back through the small claims court.

The 'waiting for software update' is coming directly from the manufacturer more than likely. If it went to court the dealership will be well within their rights to claim that the £2,800 is a reasonable amount to deduct of the usage the OP has been able to have for the time they've owned the car.

Ibrahim5

Has the software guy got writers block? It doesn't take years to tweak software. If they can't do it in a reasonable time they should replace the hardware. Whatever it takes to get the car working. If a car has an infotainment system it should work.

macman

If this is really a software issue then it will affect thousands of other VAG cars. Does it?

foxy-stoat

Have you tried updating/changing your mobile phone device, maybe an easier/cheaper fix.